PRACTISE EXPEDITION - 18-19th September 2010
16 cadets took part in the practise expedition in preparation for the final expedition. We all arived at the squadron at 9am and were then split into our 3 groups and given our planned route. The first group left at 9:30 and the rest followed with half hour intervals. Overall all the groups did really well on the first day, two of the groups got marginarly lost but still arrived back at the squadron on time. All the groups camped and cooked around the squadron building that night. During the night it rained a little but luckily nobody got wet.
The second day went really well for all the groups and all finished the planned route faster than expected. They were then able to sort some of their kit at the squadron afterwards and begin to plan their final expedition. Everyone had a good time, but some were left a little stiff the next day.
FINAL EXPEDITION - 9-10th October 2010
15 cadets took part in this event, we unfortuanatly didn't have Knapman with us because she chipped her ankle the week before. All cadets arrived at the squadron at 8am and were split into their 3 groups just like the practise expedition. Our kit was then checked and if we had mobiles they were put in a sealed envelope so that they could only be used in emergencies. The first group set off just after 8:30am the rest following at half hour intervals, just like the practise expedition. On the first day all the groups followed the same route to The Quarries campsite in Cosgrove. The route was mainly through fields and footpaths occaissonally crossing main roads. All groups were on time apart from one group that accidentally managed to get to Paulersbury rather than Pottersbury. They were slightly later than the other groups arriving at the campsite. At the camsite we were visited by the DofE examiner who asked us questions about how we got on and any incidents that had happened. He also checked that we knew where we had been and any changes we had made to the the route.
Everybody cooked and ate on site, luckily it didn't rain but it was really cold.
On the second day we got up early and left around 9, after clearing our pitches. Our route for this day was mainly along the Grand Union Canal. On the canal Cpl Webb suffered a knee injury and her group had to support her along to the next bridge where she was able to drop out but luckily has done enough to pass her DofE the rest of her group completed the route with time to spare along with the other two groups. There were no other injuries and we all enjoyed the expedition.
